I went on Wikipedia and looked up Shinola. The result included an image of a can of Shinola (shoe polish). I have copied the image and am waiting for an appropriate occasion to use it in an attempt to explain which-is-which to someone who doesn’t know the difference.
To Dumb and Dumber, we should add Dumbest: About six years ago, a building official in Ohio required that that a stone statue for a lobby to be fire rated. He wanted the statue to be labeled. After a couple of months, he relented and approval of the design was granted.
this isn’t a spec question but…
I’m located in Los Angeles and was looking up some information about a leak detection system. one of the sources included a newsletter written by a consultant in Massachusetts, a reference to his web site and contact information, so I called him, introduced myself on the phone, and asked him a couple of questions.
his comment: “you’re located way out (emphasis on this) in Los Angeles? How did you get a copy of my newsletter?”
my response: “Even way out in Los Angeles, we have the internet. I found it there.”
…
Anne, Maybe he meant “way out” as is “groovy, man.”
In that case, John, it would have been “…located in way out Los Angeles…”
Anne, I hope he understood you even with your tongue in your cheek
I’m flying from Boston to Los Angeles on Thursday. Good thing I have an up-to-date passport.
Now wait a minute Lisa - California isn’t another country yet!
Although there are those who would like it to be.
(I’m not one of them - I’m actually a transplant from Connecticut and I still have relatives on the East Coast, including Massachussetts)
See Wikipedia, “Economy of California.”
Depending upon the source, if California was ranked as a separate country it would be economically between the 7th and 10th largest in the world.
Kaliphonia (guvenator’s pronounciation): quirky, kooky, too fast-paced, getting too crowded, overly materialistic, culturally and socially diverse and very busy for commercial and institutional architects and engineers. It’s the future, for better or worse.
“Tip the world on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles” Frank Lloyd Wright
Lynn, There must be a version for every west coast city. The one I grew up with is this;
“If the United States was a dining table and you picked up one end, everything loose would end up in San Francisco” - Frank Lloyd Wright
Hmmm, I actually looked that one up, because I remembered it as the “southwest”. Methinks Mr. Wright was rather loquacious.
I think that is how Mr. Regener ended up there.
(I couldn’t resist, John) 
I had one colleague who said “if you look at a map, Seattle is WAY OUT in left field, and I like it that way.”
What you are about to read is for real. It is an excerpt from Hermes of Paris requirements for what they call ONE-SITE MEASUREMENT. I quote:
"You might think that with all the regulations and specifications we have, provided one meter measured in Paris will be the same length as one meter measured in Valencia, Boston or Munich. But unfortunately this is not the case. In other words “one meter” at one site will not necessarily equal “one meter” at another.
Or put another way: if five different workers measure the same area of a single site, you will get five different lengths. One very good way to demonstrate to your contractors the kind of precision we require is to ask their foreman to bring a yardstick measure to the first meeting.
Then put the zero end of all yardsticks adjacent to each other.
You’ll be amused when you see the worker’s amazement of what happens at the other end of the yardstick; there is a discrepancy in the gap at the ends of the yardsticks.
So imagaine how inaccurate a measurement that extends over 25 or more meters could be. [The fun part begins here; my words]. So you need to designate one person to be in charge of all the main measurements at the site.
This person should be the surveyor who surveyed the site before construction began. The contrcctor will like the idea of having a measurement coordinator and will agree to share the costs of the surveyor by the various subcontractors according to the proportion of the overall work each subcontractor is responsible for. This should be stipulated in the contract. The surveyor has to attach all axis lines and important points secured on the site.
Also the planned finished level has to be marked carefully. This procedure is especially important when you have more than one floor/level connected by a lift/elevator or stairs.
[Now for the best part]
All contractors are required to produce precise fit and finish devoid of any tolerances of any kind. Nor should the proposal/bid and contracts allow for any tolerances of any kind either.
If any tolerances are allowed for in the contract, the contractor will try to claim that he was just applying industry-standard tolerances. The latter differ from those stipulated in local regulations, but they are completely unaccpetable in a Hermes boutique."
Whew!
yardstick? they don’t have lasers in France?
Sure there will be a discrepancy if you try to measure a meter with a yardstick–along the lines of 3.37 inches.
Even if they don’t have lasers in France–do they have metersticks?
For a project I’m currently working on, I asked my client (the architect) to obtain from the structural engineer the movement capability for a proposed expansion joint that was to have a fire-resistance rating of 2 hours. His response? (Mark Gilligan, you’ll like this)
“I’m going to stick with my original recommendation for a 1” structural gap. This means that we need to allow for +/-1" movement in each direction."
Anybody know where I can find a fire-resistive joint assembly that has 200% movement capability?
Sure, do it all the time:
Nathan, C-S provides a lot of covers, but they do not provide any with 200% movement capability. And, since it’s a fire-resistance-rated floor, if the the gap is 1 inch and the movement is +/- 1 inch, then the fire barrier material in the joint would have to be capable of being compressed to nothing–zero inches. A physical impossiblity.
The most you can ask for (and UL lists) is 100% movement capability (50% compression and 50% extension), which means for a 1-inch gap, the movement would be +/- 1/2 inch, or 1 inch overall.
Yes, I see your point and agree. in my defence, I am under the influence of Nightquil currently 